1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a device for the automatic setting in place and positioning of plants.
It is adapted to facilitate and automate the positioning of all types of plants, while preserving their integrity by virtue of the use of non-mechanical handling means.
2. Discussion of Background Material
The devices manufactured up until now have had to use manual positioning, requiring substantial labor or to use mechanized systems using robots equipped with pliers, needles or pusher devices, whose action on the plants, especially young plants, consequently delicate plants, risks damaging them at the level of the roots and the leaves.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,388,035 describes a machine especially characterized by the successive use of three insufflations of air in order to position the plant in the earth. This machine is obviously complicated, and due to the way that it is conceived, promotes the risk of causing lesions to plants, thereby necessitating the insertion of the latter plant in a "bit" of earth before the transplantation operations. This substantially increases the costs of the operation.
The device according to the present invention eliminates all of these disadvantages. Indeed, it enables complete automation of transplantation operations while completely eliminating risks of lesion of the roots and leaves.